Residents in Haiti’s capital stand with police in a battle to repel gang attack

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Gangs launched a new attack on Haiti’s capital early Tuesday, targeting an upscale community in Port-au-Prince where gunmen clashed with residents who fought side by side with police.

The attack on Petionville was led by the Viv Ansanm group, whose spokesman, Jimmy Chérizier, a gang leader and former elite police officer, had announced the plan in a video posted on social media.

At least 28 suspected gang members were killed and hundreds of munitions seized, according to Lionel Lazarre, deputy spokesman for Haiti’s National Police.

It wasn’t immediately clear if police had prepared for the attack or tried to preventively protect Petionville given that Chérizier, who is also known as Barbecue, had announced plans to attack it.

The turmoil in Port-au-Prince deepened late Tuesday, when Doctors Without Borders announced it was suspending critical care across the capital as it accused police officers of violence and threats against its staff, including rape and death. The aid group will halt patient admissions and transfers to its five medical facilities starting on Wednesday, a blow to a country with extremely limited medical care.

“We have been in Haiti for more than 30 years, and this decision is taken with a heavy heart. Healthcare services have never been so limited for people in Haiti,” Christophe Garnier, the mission’s head in Haiti, said in a statement.

MSF said one of its ambulances was attacked by police last week, resulting in the killing of at least two patients and physical harm to its staff. The aid group reported four other recent violent incidents in one week alone, including one in which it accused an officer of saying that police would start executing and burning its staff, patients and ambulances.

Lazarre, the police deputy spokesman, did not return a message seeking comment.

The aid group’s decision comes as violence surges across the capital.

Witnesses told The Associated Press earlier Tuesday that residents were angered by the newest gang attack on their community. They said some of the suspected gunmen were decapitated or had their feet cut off, while bodies were placed in a pile and set on fire.

The predawn attack began when two trucks carrying suspected gang members entered Petionville. One of the trucks blocked the main entrance to the community.

Chérizier had threatened reprisals against the management and staff of any hotels in the area where politicians or “oligarchs” may have taken refuge. He also demanded the resignation of Haiti’s transitional presidential council and said the coalition would use “all its force” against it.

Gunmen also attacked the neighboring community of Canape Vert and other areas. Local resident Richard Derosier said that he heard gunfire and saw a man running around carrying a large machine gun.

“I asked God, ‘Are you going to let them save my life?'” Derosier recalled.

The attack comes days after gang violence forced Haiti’s main international airport to shut down for the second time this year as the country swore in a new prime minister following political infighting.

On Nov. 11, gunmen opened fire on a Spirit Airlines plane as it prepared to land, wounding a flight attendant. The shooting prompted the airport to close and several airlines to temporarily cancel flights to Port-au-Prince. However, the United Nations said it expects to resume its aid flights in Haiti on Wednesday.

Gang violence has forced more than 20,000 people to flee Port-au-Prince in recent days, according to the U.N. They join more than 700,000 people left homeless in recent years by the violence.

Viv Ansanm is also responsible for a series of coordinated attacks that began in late February targeting key government infrastructure. Gunmen attacked police stations, opened fire on the main international airport, forcing it to close for nearly three months, and raided Haiti’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.

Gangs control 85% of the capital and in recent weeks have launched attacks in previously peaceful communities to try and gain control of even more territory.

The attacks have escalated since police officers from Kenya, who are leading a U.N.-backed mission to quell violence in Haiti, arrived in late June. On Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said through his spokesman that he was “alarmed by the escalating violence” as he urged financial and logistical support for the mission.

The U.S. government has been pushing for a U.N. peacekeeping force to replace the Kenyan-led mission because it lacks funds and personnel.